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NUMBER 9 – CHELSEA VS MIDDLESBROUGH – 1997 FA CUP FINAL!
In the same year as the previous entry, Chelsea took on Middlesborough in the final. A big game for Chelsea, who won the day after goals from Roberto Di Matteo and Eddie Newton. Laurie Tingley, a die hard Chelsea fan, recalled the day: “It was our first major trophy in a long while. And the start of so many great things. It was a awesome day. Frist final we reached after 1994 disappointment. Di Matteo with the rifle of a goal in the first minute. It’s when FA cup finals lasted the whole day. Suggsy bought out blue day and we were all singing it. Atmosphere was electric. Our first since the FA Cup final against Leeds almost 30 years earlier. And then going on to win trophies every year since. Before the money. Remember it like it was yesterday. Amazing.” There is no debating that this victory may well have been the first sign of Chelsea’s rise to glory, with Roman Abramovic arriving at the club just six years later, and, you know the rest.
